Snakes are Cute
by DemontaDark
Summary: So this is one of those sibling OC fics... but mine is Tohru's twin brother. It will be an AyamexOC fic... therefore... in is a yaoi/slash fic and also there will be an approx. 8 year age difference... It starts of very slow but i promise it will pick up ouo (Rating shall most likely change because of reasons)


Hello. My name is Hikaru Honda. My twin sister, Tohru, and I live in a tent. We haven't always! Up until last May we lived with our mom. It was just the three of us, until the accident that is. After we lost mom… we started secretly living here… alone. It isn't super comfortable, but we manage. Plus, it's what we need to do to survive. Like Tohru says "Never give up!" I wish I was half as brave as her. She's always been the strong one. I have no idea what I'd do without her. She's the one that found a place for us to stay, and makes sure we go to school every day. Tohru always says school is super important, which is why I'm currently up at the crack of dawn, trudging to school, not even half awake.

"Tohru can't I just skip one day? I'm too tired…" I rub my eye tiredly, trailing off into a long yawn.

She simply smiled at me and shook her head. "No way Hika… You need to go to school otherwise you won't get a scholarship. Plus you want to make mom proud… don't you?"

"Yeah I guess you're right… fiiiine!" I sighed and stuck my tongue out at her. "I just don't see wh-"

"Oh Hika look!" Tohru exclaimed, cutting me off. "There's a house!"

"Hm?" I mumbled, looking up. "Oh. So there is." Standing before us was a huge, beautiful home out in the middle of the woods.

"Wow. It seems so peaceful"

"Mhm" I gazed around, looking for any inhabitants. "Hey maybe we shou-"

"Ah how cute! The twelve animals of the zodiac." With Tohru's words, my eyes were drawn down to twelve little rocks painted like the animals of the zodiac. My gaze instantly fell onto the snake, and a smile spread across my lips.

"So cute…"

"My word… Do my eyes deceive me or is there a strange young girl and a strange young boy standing on my porch?" I yelped and snapped my head up to see an older man with black hair. I exhaled sharply and shuffled behind Tohru, gripping the back of her shirt tightly in my fist, and peeked out from behind her at the man.

Tohru gasped and stepped back, pushing me back too in the process, and started flailing. "Ah I'm sorry! I'm so sorry! We were just looking we didn't mean to barge in without permission." I tugged on her shirt trying to get her attention but froze when the man spoke up again.

"It's alright. I just set them out to dry. No harm done, but… I find it hard to believe that these silly little things could attract your interest." He smiled gently at us, and I shrank back farther behind Tohru, staring at him with wide eyes.

She perked up, and I assume smiled, as she replied. "Oh no I really like them! I don't think they're silly at all. I'm sure Hika doesn't either, right Hika?" I glared at her, remaining silent. She knows I don't like talking to new people… Why must she always do this...

"I must admit I'm particularly fond of them myself." He kneeled down to examine them closer, Tohru followed suit. I shuffled nervously before eventually crouching, a bit farther away than Tohru, but still able to see what was going on.

"Oh but I should of known" Tohru started sadly. I hummed, knowing exactly what she was about to say. "You left out the cat…" The cat was always her favourite.

"The cat?" The man's face was puzzled before his eyes lit up in understanding. "Ah. I take it you're referring to the old folktale of the Chinese zodiac?"

Tohru smiled widely. "Uhuh! Our mom told it to us when we were little." Her eyes glazed over as she remembered mom telling us of the zodiac. I bit my lip, fighting back tears as I also thought about her story. Tohru told the man about how that day she decided to no longer be a dog, but a cat instead, I smiled, fondly recounting her exclamation that day and mom's reaction.

"Funny. I wonder what he'll say when he hears he has a fan" The man smiled wistfully.

"He?" Tohru nearly had a visible question mark over her head.

"You were born in the year of the dog. I knew there was something I liked about you… I mean aside from your prett-" My eyes, having narrowed when the man skillfully changed the subject, shot wide open when a bag hit him in the head.

"Please forgive my cousin miss Honda. He's a bit of a flit but harmless. In general it's usually best to just ignore him." I had slinked back behind Tohru when the man was hit in the head, but peeked out to gasp in shock.

Tohru also gasped. "Yuki Sohma?" I couldn't believe it. We had stumbled upon the prince of school's house. What are the odds?

"Ahhh… what do you have in that bag? A dictionary?" The man rubbed his head in obvious pain.

"No I have two of them." At his words I snorted, instantly covering my mouth blushing.

The still unnamed man quirked an eyebrow, turning his attention on me. "Oh you do socialize." I shrank back, staring at him, gaping slightly.

"Ah sorry about Hika… he's just shy. I promise once he warms up to you he'll be plenty talkative." Tohru patted my head, smiling widely at the two males in front of us.

"I see… well then. You two are Yuki's classmates from school. Let's start again." He lifted his hand to wave at us. "I'm Shigure, Yuki's older, and much less violent cousin."

"Hi," Tohru chirped and bowed, "It's very nice to meet you." I followed suit, falling into a quick bow.

"And what brings you to our home this morning miss Honda?" Yuki softly asked My eyes met his momentarily and I flinched, looking down at the ground.

"Ah! Well we live… nearby."

"You do?" I tensed at Yuki's questioning tone. "Where at?"

"Uhhh… right!" I rolled my eyes at my sister's failed attempt at changing the subject. She never was good at subtlety. I took in their questioning gazes and opened my mouth to cover for us when Tohru piped up. "Right, we better get going. It was nice to meet you!"

"Hey miss Honda." Yuki piped up as we turned to leave. "Since you're here, why don't we walk together?" I internally groaned, knowing I wouldn't be able to talk with Tohru any more that morning, and then we set off for school. As we left, I paused and turned to wave awkwardly goodbye to Shigure. I blushed lightly as he grinned and waved back, and turned to run and catch up with Tohru and Yuki.

* * *

The one problem with walking with Yukki to school is that infernal fan club of his. Later, Tohru and I were confronted, more like accosted, by those damn bimbos. They got up in Tohru's face, and since I was close, in mine as well. This of course made me shrink back into Tohru's side. I wish I could have stood up to them for her.

"Ok start talking! What was that all about miss Tohru?"

"Why were you walking to school with prince Yuki? Details and they better be good!"

Tohru stepped back, holding up her hands in submission. "I-it was just a coincidence."

"Well for your sake I hope that's all it was! Ha!"

"Every girl in Kaibara High School class 1-d knows Yuki Sohma's the best looking boy in school~!"

"And he's intelligent~!"

"And he's great at sports~!"

"For your info WE are the prince Yuki fanclub! We've got first dibs sister, so you better stay clear!" They had backed us up into a corner. I just stared at them with wide eyes, shaking slightly.

Suddenly I heard a "Hey!" spat in their direction, to which they yelled a simultaneous "WHAT?", only to freeze when they saw it was our friend, Arisa, surrounded by an ominous aura that promised pain.

"She said it was a coincidence! Now get lost… before those big noses of yours get bruised!" The fanclub screamed and scrambled over each other to get away from her.

The leader piped up pointing her finger at her. "N-now hold up, Yankee. You're not gonna scare us with that street thug talk." With that our other friend, Hana made herself known.

"One more word and you all get fucked with electric shocks." She said monotonously. That was the last straw that sent the bimbos tearing ass down the hall, like their lives depended on it, which they may very well have. As soon as they were gone I heaved a huge sigh of relief as Tohru thanked Arisa and Hana.

"Were those catty little girls bothering you? Aww… Hana don't actually shock anyone ok?" Arisa tugged Tohru into a hug before doing the same to me, patting my head gently. "Now let's get you two cuties to cooking class!"

* * *

Tohru half slumped in her seat, sighing. "You know the truth is, I was just so nervous walking with Yuki this morning. I couldn't talk to him, even though Hika was there. I couldn't even look at him!"

"I sense strange electric signals coming from that boy" Hana skillfully cut a fish and held up the knife, allowing it to glint under the light. Arisa sighed, watching her add the fish to the stew.

"Here we go again. Hana's electric report." She boredly stated, resting her cheek on her fist.

Tohru tilted her head at Hana. "Strange how?"

Hana shrugged. "I don't know. He's different." She slid the cover onto her knife, placing it on the table.

"Well I admit he does have an air of mystery about him," Arisa pushes her hair away from her face thoughtfully, "and there are some strange stories floating around too. I hear one of those band club girls tried to ask him out once… but he just pushed her away. And I mean that literally! Right in the hall. Then he left her on the floor and ran off."

"Like I said," Hana interjected, "I sense strange electric signals…"

"Umm… Let's talk about something else." Tohru was clearly uncomfortable.

I grinned and patted her head. "It's okay Tohru. Just because he's got weird electric signals doesn't necessarily mean a bad thing, right Hana?" To which Hana simply shrugged.

"Oh yeah. How's that job of yours going?" Arisa said, changing the subject.

"Oh, fine I guess. Why?" Tohru busied herself making rice balls.

Arisa's eyes narrowed. "I don't know… You guys've been putting in a lot of hours lately… a lot more than usual."

Tohru stuttered out a "Yeah sure" and Arisa's eyes narrowed further.

"You're having trouble saving up for tuition aren't you?" Her tone was no-nonsense.

"N-no it's just… well… yeah"

"That's odd" Hana suddenly said, making me blink. "I didn't think tuition here was that expensive and I don't remember you guys having to work this hard before. Unless something else has… changed."

"N-no! Everything's the sa-"

"So what is it?" Arisa said, cutting off Tohru's response. "You guys in some kind of trouble? You owe somebody? Your grandfather's giving you guys enough to eat right? He isn't taking your money?" Tohru shook her head no and Arisa got in her face laughing. "I know I worry too much. But seriously… if you need me to rough someone up for you just say the word. Got it?" Tohru and I nodded our heads and Tohru let out a forced happy "Okay!"

* * *

After school, Tohru and I ran into Yuki again. She didn't notice him at first, but once she did she stood up straight as a rod. I shifted behind her slightly. But hey, I wasn't cowering… improvement.

"Oh! Y-Yuki it's you. I mean it's… Hi." She flushed and interlocked her fingers in front of her.

"It seems we're beginning to make a habit of bumping into eachother." Yuki smiled gently in her direction before turning his attention on me. "Hello mister Honda"

I cleared my throat and grabbed onto the back of Tohru's shirt whispering a quiet "Hello" before looking down.

Tohru beamed at me before turning back to Yuki as he spoke up. "Since we live near each other, would you mind if we walked together?"

"Oh! N-no not at all!" Tohru stepped forward, bringing me with her, and the three of us began the trek home.

A little while into the walk Tohru pipped up. "It was nice meeting your cousin this morning. He was funny. And those little zodiac figurines he made were really cute."

"Ah yes… But I thought I overheard you saying something about how you wish there was a year of the cat."

Tohru blushed and shrugged. "It's an idea I had when I was a kid. Silly."

Yuki seemed to tense up a bit. "Cats. Useless, foolish creatures." Tohru stopped and gaped in shock.

"Tell me miss Honda. How familiar would you say you are with the history of the chinese zodiac?" Yuki's face was covered in shadow and I watched him with concern.

Tohru's face took on a puzzled look. "I know the stories our mom used to tell us."

"Did you know that it was originally nothing more than a simple calendar. A mathematical system to mark the passage of time. Only later did people begin to use it for things like astronomy and fortune-telling." Tohru let out a meek little "Oh" as I continued to study Yuki's face.

"I guess the story about the animals isn't true then."

"No. I'm not really sure how or when the animals first came to represent the years, but I don't believe they were there from the beginning. What I do know is at no time in the history of the zodiac has the cat ever been included." I hummed thoughtfully. It seemed Yuki had a bit of pent up anger on this subject. "So you see, the cat has been shunned by society for thousands of years. But as the story is told, it still yearns to be accepted. Like I say… A truly foolish animal." I frowned at his words.

"Sounds like you really don't like cats" Tohru piped up, ever the innocent one. At her words Yuki twisted around to look at her.

"I noticed it this morning… that you're starting to look a bit pale.. both of you. You should really take better car of yourselves." With that he started walking away. "Perhaps we'll bump into each other again tomorrow." Tohru flushed, watching as he walked away.

"He's right you're looking awfully pale Tohru… maybe you should take today off?" I tentatively said, knowing there was no way she'd take it off.

"No way Hika… plus I'm sure i'm just as bad as you… and we need to work… or we can't afford school… or food…"

"Yeah yeah ok… just take it easy… I'm worried about you"

"Me? You're the one with a poor history of health"

"Oh shut up… I'm allowed to be worried about you. You're all I've got left anyways…"

"I love you too Hika… but we do need to go to work"

"Ack! Fiiiiiiiine… Just take it easy… please?"

* * *

Tohru, of course, did not take it easy. But It's not like I can talk… I went just as hard as her. By the time we made it… home… we were both exhausted. As we approached the tent, I stumbled ahead of Tohru and opened the flap for her.

Tohru entered and fell to the floor, smiling at the picture of our mom. "Hi mom.. we're home."

I smiled and whispered "Hi mom."

"I know it's late, but we can't sleep yet. We still have our history papers to write." Tohru sighed and smiled sleepily. "I'm just going to go down to the stream to wash up a little ok? You coming Hika?" I nodded and grabbed both of our washcloths, handing Tohru hers. Tohru started out of the tent and stopped half way out.

"Tohru? Hey what gives? You fall asleep alread-" I pushed beside her and froze when I saw Shigure and Yuki outside our tent. "A-ah… um…" I swallowed thickly, fighting off my flight response.

When Shigure started laughing at us, I scowled at him and huffed angrily. Still laughing, Shigure invited us to his home, probably because Yuki said he was overdoing it with the laughter.

When we got to the house, Shigure was still snorting every few seconds. Tohru and I sat at one end of their table, heads bowed, while Yuki and Shigure sat at the other end. It was silent, besides Shigure's snickers, until Yuki spoke up.

"So… you've been living in that tent by yourselves?"

Tohru spoke quietly, head still bowed. "Uhuh"

"For how long?"

"I dunno… just over a week?" Shigure started laughing louder and my shoulders tensed in anger.

"Well that explains it. All of this land is Sohma property. It seemed odd that we'd suddenly have a new neighbor."

"S-sorry… but please! Can't we stay there a little while longer?" My eyebrow twitched as I listened to Shigure's peels of laughter. "It's only for a few more weeks and we'll go! We don't have much money but we can pay you! Please let us stay" Shigure suddenly stopped laughing and I released the breath I had been holding.

Then, Shigure spoke up for the first time since they had found our tent. "Those woods aren't too safe… you've got wild animals, landslides, the occasional weirdo prowling around. It's not a good idea for you two to be living out there alone."

Yuki glanced at him. "So you're done laughing?"

Tohru suddenly jumped to her feet, surprising the three of us. "Don't worry about us! We're already used to all the bugs and if we can stand up to them we can stand up to…" Tohru trailed off and fell onto me. I gasped and called out her name.

"T-Tohru are you ok?" I shook her shoulder lightly and bit my lip. "H-hey… Tohru?" I looked at the other two who had drawn closer and pulled Tohru to my chest, glaring at them. "H-hey back off… I-i'll uh… I-I'll.. oh…" My vision started swimming. I slumped over the limp form of my sister

"Ah... Hika…? I'm ok... don't worry. Hika?" She blinked and sat up "I just got dizzy… Hika… hey…?"

I groaned and sat up slowly. "S-sorry"

"I'll go get ice!" I heard Shigure exclaim, he froze, staring into the kitchen though, before coming back. He opened his mouth to say something, when a dog howling cut him off. "There… You hear that? There's just been another landslide somewhere."

"R-really?" Tohru tilted her head. "How do you know that?"

"Hmm… I guess you could say it's instinct." I hummed and blinked thoughtfully up at him.

Yuki suddenly looked concerned. "Was it close?"

Shigure responded automatically "Close to the tent-oh! I mean not at all~!"

Tohru gasped "Mom!" and I froze. Tohru suddenly tore out of the house, running for the tent. I scrambled to my feet, swaying heavily, and attempted to stumble after her. I tripped and nearly fell to the floor, but Shigure caught my elbow.

I blinked up at him, flushing lightly. "U-um thank you…" I wobbled a couple steps away, nearly falling again.

He sighed "Here" and grabbed my waist, supporting me. "Let's go get your sister"

"Th-thank you…" I looked down and lumbered along beside him as fast as we could go. When we caught up to her she was standing where our tent used to be.

"Oh this is terrible! Mom's picture was still in there! I've got to get her out! Mom! Mom I'm coming!" Tohru cried out, falling to her knees and desperately clawed at the earth where our tent had been previously. I gasped and tugged away from Shigure to help her, but he only tightened his grip.

I turned to glare at him. "L-let go of me, damnit!" I squirmed and he stared down at me seriously.

"You aren't going to be any help in your current state." I swallowed at his tone and looked down. "You don't want to hurt yourself or make yourself any sicker right? Don't worry. Yuki will take care of it." I nodded hesitantly, looking up to see Yuki moving toward my sister.

Yuki went up to Tohru, placing his hand on her shoulder as she gasped for breath.

"Please calm down. You already have a fever."

"But mom…" She lay on the ground, obviously exhausted. "W-what am I going to do? If I don't get her out soon, she… she'll be hurt…" She gasped when Shigure moved us over to her and gently grasped her hand.

"Don't strain yourself. We'll come back when it's brighter. I think your mom's probably glad it wasn't you two in there. I think she'd be upset if one of you got hurt now… don't you?" I nodded at Shigure's words.

"Tohru… mom wouldn't want you to get hurt. She'd say not to worry about it right? We can come back tomorrow…" Tohru looked up and glanced between the two of us before nodding.

"Let's get you to our house, okay miss Honda?" Yuki smiled gently at her, offering his hand. She hesitated before allowing him to pull her to her feet. Silently, we began the trek back to their house.

"There. Isn't that better? I'm sorry there's only one extra bed, but we can still look for some ice… if you want?" Shigure sat perched on the edge of the bed Tohru and I lay in.

"I'm sorry…" Tohru whispered into the covers.

Shigure simply laughed softly. "You must be tired. It's a lot to happen in one day."

"Mhm… We… we lost our home again…" I reached over and lay my hand on Tohru's head, stroking her hair gently.

"Are you okay?"

"Yes… It's sad, but not as sad as other things…"

"Like what?" Shigure tilted his head slightly.

"Like… not telling mom to be safe on the day she died. I said that every morning." My eyes welled up with tears at her words. "Bye… be safe. Except that day I didn't say it. I had a test." I sniffled and brought my hand up to scrub furiously at my face. "So I stayed up studying almost the whole night. When it was time for mom to go to work, I didn't wake up. I couldn't tell her to be safe and she… never came home." Tohru's voice got choked up as tears started to form.

"I-It's not your fault." I whimpered. "Tohru…"

"I used to think about quitting school," she continued, ignoring me, "working. Mom told us she didn't finish school, but she always wished that she did. When she told us she wanted us to tell her how it felt… to hold a diploma in our hands… that's when I knew… why she worked so hard… it was all for us. And with everything she did, I couldn't even get up long enough to say goodbye when she was walking out the door. Not even that one little thing. And then she was gone." I wipe away tears and bite my lip, watching her. "So now, we have to finish highschool like mom wanted us to, no matter what. We have to hold our diplomas in our hands… I have to… for her… I can't give up… just because… of a… fe...ver… like… this..." Tohru trailed off, falling asleep and I sniffled behind my hand.

"It's amazing… she always seems so cheerful at school. You'd never guess she'd been suffering like this for so long." Yuki spoke from the doorway suddenly, surprising me.

"My sister's so strong… she doesn't want anybody else to be sad… so she… pretends she isn't. She… she thinks nobody notices… but I always… n-notice… I love her but she's so damn stubborn. I just… wish she'd… let me… help…" I too trailed off, falling asleep before my sentence was complete.

* * *

A/N

As you've prolly noticed its the exact flow and speech as in the anime... it will be like that for a few chapters. Eventually though it will branch off of the anime, so yeah. Just an fyi Tohru and Hikaru are identical twins... so take from that what yu will uwu

Thanks for reading

Review if you'd like~!


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